Normanton and Karumba – 26 to 30 September 2010

Following the discovery of gold at Croydon and copper at Cloncurry, Normanton was a for a time a bustling inland Port as the Normanton river was navigable to ships. Although floods, termites and cyclones have destroyed a lot of the Historic buildings enough remain to make it an interesting stop.

We liked Normanton. It is very clean and tidy. The Caravan Park has a wonderful swimming pool, the second best we have seen and it is great to swim in. It has an attached spa bath which is filled from the towns original artesian bore.

Normanton  historic walk included the Burns Philp Building; they were the major traders in the area from the 1880's to the 1980's. One can imagine how exciting it would have been to visit this store coming in from the harsh terrain of the Gulf country.

The crocodile is a replica of Krys the Savannah King.  He was shot by Krystina Pawlowski and was named after her and is the largest crocodile ever shot [and recorded].

The Carpentaria Shire office is a gracious two storey building and although designed to look like an hotel it has always been the Shire offices.

The old goal was the main penal establishment for the entire gulf during the Croydon gold rushes.  There are some drawings by former occupants on the wall of the middle cell.  Beside the goal is the quarters for the Aboriginal Trackers.  Aboriginals were excellent trackers and were used to find lost people, stock and criminals.

The Westpac Bank was originally the Bank of New South Wales and opened for business on the 23rd July 1884.  It is the sole survivor of the five banks that once operated here. This building was built in 1886. In the gulf there is only one layer of wood on the exterior which allows the houses to cool down rapidly. Having the frame on the outside of the house is very decorative.

Before air conditioning the best way of keeping cool was to not have the sun touch the sides of the house and have air moving all the time. This is the reason for the wide verandahs as they protected the walls from the sun and the occupants could sit on them and catch the breeze. In the centre of Australia the nights are cold so the house cools quickly and you can sleep.

Outside town there is the wharf. The river used to be navigable but now the Harbor is silted up and goods are shipped from Karumba. The entire gulf region is used for raising cattle but they are shipped out by Road Train. One thousand head of cattle can be transported by Road Train so this is a better option.  In the past the boat ramp next to the wharf was used for crossing the river on a ferry.

We went for a trip on the Gulflander train. With the discovery of copper in Cloncurry plans were approved for a Cloncurry Normanton Railway line. However Gold was discovered in Croydon and the direction of the track quickly changed to service the gold field.

Construction was commenced in July 1888. This track is unique. Because of monsoonal flooding and termites the track consists of steel sleepers, which are filled with soil and laid directly on the ground. The track is laid on top of them. When it floods the water flows over the top of the line causing very little damage, whereas with track laid on ballast, the ballast washes away. Much of the line is original.  This line is the only fully functional original railway in Australia.

Nevil Shute spent time at Normanton in the Purple Pub collecting notes for his novel 'A Town like Alice' with the Alice referring to Alice Springs. However it seems the title should have been 'A town like Normanton'

From Normanton we drove to the Port of Karumba for day trips and enjoyed the fishing and sunsets.

On the way we saw a large flock of brolgas in the wetlands beside the road. They were very shy. Trish dipped her toes in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

 

 

There is a lovely modern Hotel there and we sat on the Verandah and enjoyed the sunset. They have the freshest prawns and Barramundi we have had as they come straight from the wharf to you. The meal is truly excellent.

 
We did a fishing charter on the Kelly D.  This was a fantastic day and we caught two thread fin salmon and two blue salmon of about 770mm in length. Our skipper did a great job of finding fish. We could have caught many more but the small ones were thrown back.

The area has a lot of interesting sites from WW2 although most of this is not yet signposted. It was a refuelling and repair stop for the Empire Flying Boats which connected Sydney and Great Britain. They landed on the stretch of river in front of the town which is a well protected landing site.

It was also a Catalina Flying Boat Base for the RAAF.  The ramp on which they taxied is now the street that runs beside Karumba Lodge.  Karumba Lodge has had a varied history but was used by Ansett Airlines for their Station run delivering mail and goods to outback Stations and Barramundi to Mt. Isa.

Zinifex exports Zinc and Lead from the Century Mine at Lawn Hill here. The zinc and lead arrives as a slurry via pipeline, is dewatered and is transferred to a barge which then takes it to larger ships waiting further out to sea. The Century mine also produces Silver.

Katherine, Daly Waters, Borroloola, Hell’s Gate – 21 to 26 September 2010

We left Darwin and stayed overnight at Katherine Low Level and Daly Waters, two campsites we like.

At Daly Waters being cloudy we succeeded in photographing the tree blazed with an “S” by John McDouall Stuart on 23rd May 1862 on his successful journey from Adelaide to Darwin.
After Daly Waters we took our National Highway [Highway 1] also known between Broome and Cairns as the Savannah Way and in the section from Daly Waters to Normanton as the Great Top Road. 
We stopped at the Hi Way Roadhouse for diesel and a last coffee before embarking on the Carpentaria Road section of the Savannah Way.  At this point it looks like an old WW2 Road as the bitumen is so narrow. It is also as straight as a ruler.
Our next stop was the Heartbreak Hotel for lunch. It was so hard for the contractor to build this Roadhouse owing to the difficulty of getting deliveries and hiring workers that when it finally neared completion his name for it was the Heartbreak Hotel and despite the publican’s pleas the name stuck.
There is a Ukrainian girl working here at the moment; the place is spotlessly clean and the meal is good.
This is where the Tablelands Highway and the Carpentaria Highway diverge and the road is not so good although still bitumen. We stopped at the Caranbirini Reserve and walked through the eroded limestone pillars.  From there we drove to Borroloola where we spent the night in a nice quiet campsite.  Borroloola was a rough and tough town during the Gold Rushes but has quietened down and is now a transit stop for those who are traveling West and East.  The hotel provides an adequate meal.


After Borroloola your car should be 4WD and your caravan outback capable. We saw one camper trailer in pieces by the side of the road.  The next day there were frequent river crossings and the road was mostly dirt however the surface is reasonable. We crossed the border into Queensland.  Wollogorang Station and Roadhouse has ceased trading so we drove through to Hell’s Gate Roadhouse.
       
Hell’s Gate derives its name from the fact that the native Police could not guarantee your safety beyond this point if you were traveling West.  At Hell’s Gate there was wood ready for our fire which was helpful. The Roadhouses have very minimal supplies at the moment as the wet is due and travel by road will cease shortly but Hell’s Gate did have fuel, apparently not always the case. We spent the evening talking to fellow travelers round the fire. and watching a spectacular lightning show from a nearby storm.
From Hell’s Gate we tried to drive in to Kingfisher Camp and Lawn Hill.  The road in was cut by a large sheet of water so we had to turn back. Our thunderstorm had dumped some water near Kingfisher Camp, cutting the road.
Consequently we drove to Normanton, a long drive but a reasonably good road, although large portions of it are still dirt. We passed through Burketown, the prototype for “Willstown” in Nevil Shute's novel 'A Town like Alice'.  There was nothing to keep us there as nothing was open on a Sunday. 
We stopped at Leichardt River.  The falls were dry, although the gathering storm clouds threatened to change this.
We drove to  Burke and Wills base camp number B119, their furthest North Camp. From there they made a dash to the Gulf of Carpentaria.  Although they reached the shore by their maps they were unable to see or reach the open sea because of the impenetrable mangrove swamps. Burke and Wills expedition to find a North- South Route across Australia  was in competition with John Stuart. It is hard to have a lot of sympathy for Burke and Wills.  Their deaths on the way home were the final disaster for what was a well financed but badly prepared and managed expedition.  The actual route was discovered by John McDouall Stuart and is now the Stuart Highway from Adelaide to Darwin.
We finished the drive into Normanton late in the evening.

Darwin – 2 to 21 September 2010

We like Darwin and were glad to be back there.

Tricia had to go to the US and John spent his time cleaning the van, riding bikes and reading.  The early storms meant that most people had left, and the normally full park was relatively deserted.  Fortunately  friends we had met while travelling, Emma and Rob were here so he had some company.

After Tricia came back we had a lovely day visiting the Rapid Creek and Nightcliff markets. Rapid Creek has lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. Nightcliff is more of a brunch spot.

We had brunch at the Box Jellyfish Cafe on Nightcliff beach. This is a trailer cafe run by Matthew a former aboriginal footballer who John had met on his bike rides when we stayed in Darwin the year before.

It has good coffee and is reputed to have the best bacon and egg sandwiches in Darwin. One can sit and watch dogs and their owners brave the crocodiles and swim on the beach.

From there we went to the Darwin Museum. This has a small collection but it is very well curated.
The exhibition comprises an excellent selection of Aboriginal Paintings, from the Hermannsburg School onwards.
There is a section on Cyclone Tracy, which demolished Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974.
There is a section on the evolutionary history of Crocodilians.
There is a short film on catching Sweetheart a 5.1 meter crocodile who took to attacking boats. As he was dangerous a team from the Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission caught him with a view to relocating him at a crocodile farm as a breeding crocodile but he died shortly thereafter, was stuffed and is now resides in the museum. The name Sweetheart comes from his former residence, Sweets Billabong on the Finiss River.
There is also a collection of unusual Boats from the Pacific Rim. Occasionally boats get blown off course and end up in Australia, or they bring a group of refugees colloquially known as boat people. Some of them are quite unique and have been bought by the museum and are being restored.

From the Museum we went to see the National Trust Collection of houses by architect Beni Burnett. Born in Mongolia and living as an adult in Tientsin and Singapore Burnett had an intuitive understanding of what was needed in a house in the tropics. There are four houses left at Myilly Point and we could see through the K house, also known as the Burnett house. Walls of louvers and casement windows meant that the house was very cool even without air conditioning. He also understood that one did not want too much thermal mass exposed to radiant heat. His house designs were graceful, original and very livable. Burnett was a Government Architect and his houses were designed for upper level public servants.

The next day we visited Fanny Bay Gaol. Fanny Bay Gaol was opened in 1883. From the outset this Gaol was thought to be badly positioned so not much money was spent on it and in 1979 prisoners were transferred to other locations. It was handed over to the Government and then housed Vietnamese Boat People in the children’s section for a while after which it was designated a historic site.

Kununurra to Darwin – 1 to 2 September 2010

From Kununurra we drove to Katherine,  leaving Western Australia after ten months of great travel and experiences. 

We passed the site on the Victoria River where the North Australian Expedition led by Augustus Charles  Gregory established their main base camp in October 1855, and spent the next eight months exploring the Victoria River Region as far as 500km south to the Great Sandy Desert.  He marked a Boab Tree with details, an early form of Facebook page for explorers!

We stopped for lunch at the Victoria River Roadhouse, which proudly announced it was “Under New [Ownership] Wife.

We then drove on to the Low Level Park in Katherine, a nice park on the edge of a tiny National Park.  It has good amenities and is great spot for an overnight stop.  From Katherine we drove on to Darwin.